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Afterdeath
}} Durkon arrives in the afterlife and meets Minrah. Cast * Durkon Thundershield (as spirit) ◀ ▶ * Minrah Shaleshoe (as spirit) ◀ ▶ * Thor ◀ ▶ Transcript In the afterlife, a yellow glow appears. Durkon appears with a "PINGG!!" Durkon: We did it! We're free! Ha ha! Durkon: I mean... I'm free. I guess it just be me again. Durkon: Feels good ta move me arms an' legs fer— Minrah arrives stage left and punches Durkon in the face, "'WHOP!"'' '''Minrah: What are you doing here?? Minrah: Was killing me not enough? Did you need to Plane Shift up here to finish me off?!? Minrah: I may not have a hammer here in the Afterlife, but I still have my fists! Minrah punches him again, "'POW!"'' '''Durkon: OW! Minrah: I carry my fists in my heart!! Durkon: Stop! STOP! Lass, I ain't who ye think I be! Minrah: I think you're Durkon Thundershield. Durkon: Och, OK. But tha's more common than ye'd think. Durkon: I'm na a vampire. Look: Me teeth're square. Me eyes ain't red. Minrah: You could be using disguise magic. Durkon: Wouldnae've disguised meself as someone else alt'gether? Minrah: ...Very low level disguise magic. Durkon: Lass, I'm dead, just like ye are. Durkon: Truth is, I been dead a while now, but me soul only just go free an' clear. Durkon: Tha vampire's been walkin around inside me corpse, pretendin' ta be me an' holding me spirit hostage. Minrah: Wait, is that how vampirism works? But what about— Durkon: Och, it's messy. How aboot we na get inta it right now? Minrah: Alright, well...I guess what you're saying make sense. Minrah: But if you turn out to be evil, I reserve the right to resume punching you very hard in the face. Durkon: Aye, tha's fair. Durkon: Tell tha truth, I been wantin' ta punch me own smug face in tha face fer ''days'.'' Minrah: Uh, OK. Does everyone in your group have weird emotional issues? Durkon: Eh, tha cat's prob'ly fine. D&D Context * Plane Shift is a 5th level cleric spell which allows the caster and perhaps several others to travel among the various planes of existence (see below). Durkon did not use Plane Shift to get to the afterlife, his soul being transported there by the gods upon the destruction of his vampire captor. * The location for this strip is one of the Outer Planes of the D&D cosmology, domains of the gods and other powerful beings. Durkon and Minrah are next to Valhalla, having died honorably in combat. ** There are sixteen and later seventeen outer planes, one corresponding to each of the nine alignments in the game (originally omitting true neutral), with eight additional transitional planes in between each of the core alignment planes. ** The Celestial Realms are the Outer Planes ruled by beings of the Good alignment. There are three planes, one for each Good alignment: Mount Celestia, for the Lawful Good (where Roy spent his afterlife), Arboria, for the Chaotic Good, and Elysium, for the Neutral Good. There are also four transitional realms, Arcadia, Bytopia, Beastlands, and Ysgard, which reside at the intersection of these alignments and their neighbors. ** The hall of Valhalla lies in Asgard in the first layer of Ysgard, the transitional plane of Chaotic Neutral/Chaotic Good, according to 1st and 2nd edition sources. 3rd edition sources do not conclusively place the location of Valhalla. Ysgard was originally introduced in D&D as Gladsheim, in Dragon magazine #8 in 1977, and retained that name through the first edition. AD&D 2nd edition's 1994 Planescape setting dramatically reskinned the cosmology, distancing the game from real world paganism, and renamed it Ysgard, though Gladsheim was retained as an alternate name. In the 3rd and later editions, the name Gladsheim was dropped. Ysgard is an invented name, while Gladsheim comes from Norse myth. * Minrah's confusion about the mechanics of vampirism may be a nod to the non-standard rules of vampirism that are used in the Order of the Stick universe, such as being reduced to ash by a stake through the heart, and the details of there being a separate negative energy spirit controlling the corpse, neither of which appear in the D&D rules. * Even the 1st level Disguise Self spell allows the caster to look like another person, so merely changing one's eyes and teeth would be cantrip-level magic. Trivia * Thor's appearance in the strip would not be apparent until two pages later. * Durkon's line in panel 8, "...tha's more common than ye'd think", may confirm Belkar's supposition from #1107 that "Durkon Thundershield" is a very common dwarven name, or might refer to the fact that "Durkon" has been impersonating him, making mistaken identity common in his case. * The Celestial Realms were last portrayed in the comic just prior to Roy's resurrection in #664, "Down to Earth", when Roy left Celestia. Hel's abode is also in the outer planes, shown more recently in #1084. * Minrah's asking Durkon if all the members of the Order of the Stick have weird emotional issues in Panel 13 goes back to her conversation with Belkar in "It's Never Failed Before", regarding his issues with Durkon's self sacrifice to save him from Malack. * Durkon's reply regarding Mr. Scruffy refers to the emotional baggage the other members have: Roy having an estranged relationship with his deceased father, Elan dealing with both his father and his brother being villains, Haley's closed off upbringing, and Vaarsuvius's Soul Splice deal. As far as Durkon knows, Scruffy is the only one with no issues. External Links * 1132}} View the comic * 565621}} View the discussion thread